Grain-drier.



J. FITZ.

GRAIN DRIER.

APPucATloN mso AuG.3o. |913.

Patented Dee. 4,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

I. FITZ.

GRAIN DRIER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-30| 1913.

mma Dec. 4,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

JOHN FITZ, OF HANOVER, PENNSYLVANIA.

GR AIN-DBIER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 4, 191W.

Application filed August 30, 1913. Serial No. 787,482.

To all 'whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, JOHN Frrz, a citizen of the United States, residing `at Hanover, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grain-Driers, .of which the following is a specification.

This invention is in the nature of a drier for grain and like substances and is Vprimarily intended as a drier or roaster for corn.

The necessity of drying or roasting grain, and especially shelled corn, before grinding, has long been recognized and the object of the Present invention is to provide a machine for drying or roasting corn which will be of simple and economical construction, effi-4 cient in operation, and not liable to breakage or excessive wear with ordinary usage.

With this object in view the invention consists in the improved construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts of a drier or roaster, which will be hereinafter fully described and afterward specifically claimed.

In order that the construction and operation thereof may be readily comprehended, I have illustrated an approved embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1, represents a view of the machine in front elevation,

Fig. 2, a view in rear elevation with part of the large gear wheel broken away.

Fig. 3, a view in side elevation,

Fig. 4, a detail view, and

Fig. 5, a longitudinal sectional view, the discharge chute being omitted.

Like reference characters mark the same parts wherever they appear in a plurality of the figures of the drawings.

Referring specifically to the drawings 10 indicates the front wall or head, 11 the rear wall, 12, 13 the side walls, and 14 the top or hood, of a furnace casing, the front and rear walls being preferably of cast iron, while the side walls and hood are preferably of sheet steel.

ln the front casting there are double fire doors `15 opening into a re box 16 above an from the cylinder passes into any suitable receptacle.

The casing may be assembled in any suitable manner, the joint between the front and rear castings and the sides being shown at 24 in Fig. 4, and suitable angle iron braces v25 are used to stiften the structure. A suitable smoke stack 26 is provided at the rear of the furnace casing in which is installed a. damper 27.

An exhaust pipe 28 projects from the rear wall or casting and is provided with a valve 29. A thermometer 30 indicates the temperature near the exhaust pipe.

Within the casing near the top, and concentric with the hood is a cylinder 31, mounted on a horizontal shaft 32 and strengthened and supported from said shaft by braces 33, 33, 33 intermediate the ends of the cylinder, braces 34 at the front end and braces 35 at the rear end, the front braces 34 being threaded into a hub 36 and provided on their threaded portions with lock nuts 37 while the rear braces are threaded into a hub 38 and provided with lock nuts 39.

The front end of the cylinder is partially closed by a head 40 which passes through an opening in the front casting or wall of the furnace, there being a central opening in the projected portion which terminates in a horizontal ring 42 which is braced by radial arms 43 having adjusting nuts 44, said ring 42 being seated in a casing 45 secured to the front wall of the furnace and provided at its forward end with a case 46 for balls 47 which form the front bearing of the shaft.

In the rear wall of the furnace is an opening in which is secured a case 48 for balls 49 which form the rear bearing for the shaft. Both ball bearings are of the selfalining type.

In the casing 45, on the shaft and extending slightly into the cylinder, is a small conveyer consisting of spiral blades 50, which serves to convey grain fed to the hop` per 47, into the cylinder to be fed there-A through in a manner to be hereinafter described.

The shaft 32 projects beyond the rear wall of the casing and carries, at its end, a large bevel gear wheel 51 which meshes with a smaller gear wheel or pinion 52 carried by a transverse shaft 53 journaled in bearings 54 supported on brackets 55 secured to the rear wall of the casing.

Y The transverse shaft is driven from any suitable engine or motor andthrough the gearing described, transmits its motion to the main shaft 32.

Secured t0 the inner face of the cylinder 31 are one or more spirally arranged ribs 56 which I preferably make of a plurality of short angle pieces 57 arranged end to end, as seen in Fig. 5, secured to the cylinder by any suitable means, the spiral direction being such as to cause the contents of the cylinder to be fed alongA therein from front to rear, these ribs forming the main conveyer to receive the grain from the small conveyer 50, hereinbefore described.

I find it desirable to delay the passage of the grain through the cylinder and for this purpose I have secured to the shaft 32 a plurality of hubs 58, each of which carries short blades 59, spirally arranged in the direction opposite to that of the ribs 56 so that when turned, with the shaft, in the same direction as ribs 56, these blades 59 will tend to feed the material, fed or dropped upon them, backward with relation to the direction of feed by said ribs 56.

Considerable strain being brought upon the shaft 32, there may be a tendency for this shaft to sag, or drop in the middle. This tendency I overcome by means of braces or truss rods 60, secured at their front ends to the hub 36 and at their rear ends in a hub 61 secured on the shaft, and trussed at their centers upon arms 62 projecting from a hub 64 on the shaft. In order that these truss rods may be adjusted in length as desired, I have made them each in two pieces, end to end, connected by turnbuckles 65.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a furnace casing, a shaft journaled therein and'extending throughout its length, a cylinder ex- 65 tending the length of the casing, mounted concentrically upon the shaft and supported scribed, the combination of a furnace casing, a shaft journaled therein, ar cylinder mounted concentrically upon the. shaft, a conveyer comprising a longitudinal spiral rib .secured to the wallof the cylinder and projecting inward, the spiral being in a direction to cause the contents to progress Y throughthe cylinder and means for delaying the contents in their passage, comprising means attached to the shaft for causing a reduced motion of the contents in the opposite direction.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination ofV a yfurnace casing, a shaft. journaled therein, a cylinder mounted concentrically upon the shaft, a conveyer comprising a longitudinal spiral rib secured to the wall of the cylinder and projecting inward, the spiral being in a direction to canse'the contents to progress through the cylinder and means for delaying the contents in their passage, comprising a plurality of short spiral blades attached to the shaft at 'angles opposite to that of the conveyer rib.

4. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a furnace casing, a shaft journaled longitudinally therein, hubs on the shaft at opposite ends, radial arms projecting from the hubs, acylinder secured upon the radial arms, and means for Y adjusting radially the radial arms.

5. In a machine of the character described, the combination of a furnace casing, a shaft j ournaled longitudinally/'therein, hubs on the shaft at opposite ends, radial arms projecting from the hubs, a cylinder secured upon the radial arms, means for adcontents thereof from the front to the rear, In testimony whereof I aix my signature an additional conveyer arranged to give a in presence of two witnesses. reduced backward motion to the contents,

a hopper on the supplementary casing, and JOHN FITZ a supplementary conveyer in the supple- Witnesses:

mentary casing to deliver its contents into F.- WALTER LEBENSLEBEN,

the cylinder. It. H. BoWERsoX.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for tive centr each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patente.

` Y Washington, D. C. 

